Rowell sentenced to 20 years in prison in Monica Loera murder case

Prosecutors asked both Rowell and his father Cary Rowell about a confederate battle flag found in the trailer where he lived — along with a loaded .38-special handgun tucked under the mattress — and a pocket knife that also had the battle flag on it.

The flag, Rowell said, had more to do with his fandom of Hank Williams, Jr., and the knife was a gift from his sister that he had carried only for a couple of weeks when arrested for shooting Loera.

Symbols and flags, he said, “sometimes get hijacked by different groups and their meaning changed… I can appreciate it is offensive to other people.”

Prosecutor Mark Pryor then asked Rowell if he wasn’t a racist.

“That’s correct,” Rowell said.

Earlier: JonCasey Rowell, facing a potential sentence in the murder of Monica Loera of five years to life in prison, could find out on Tuesday what that punishment will be.

Travis County prosecutors and Rowell’s defense team on Tuesday will present witnesses in the punishment phase of Rowell’s trial in the Jan. 22, 2016, killing at a North Austin home. The jury of six men and six women convicted Rowell Monday after a five-day trial and four hours of deliberation.